Chapter 2a. Electrical and electronic products and equipment (EEE)

Regulations relating to restrictions on the manufacture, import, export, sale and use of chemicals and other products hazardous to health and the environment (Product Control Regulations). This is an unofficial translation of the Norwegian regulation.

18.11.2013

2a-1 Scope

Categories of EEE covered by this chapter:

1. Large household appliances.

2. Small household appliances.

3. IT and telecommunications equipment.

4. Consumer equipment.

5. Lighting equipment.

6. Electrical and electronic tools.

7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment.

8. Medical devices within the meaning of Regulation 15 December 2005 No. 1690 concerning medical device, and which is also EEE.

9. Monitoring and control instruments including industrial monitoring and control instruments designed for exclusively industrial or professional use.

10. Automatic dispensers.

11. Other EEE not covered by any of the categories above.

Cables and spare parts for the repair, the reuse, the updating of functionality or upgrading of capacity for categories mentioned above are in scope.

Cables means all cables with a rated voltage of less than 250 volts that serve as a connection or an extension to connect EEE to the electrical outlet or to connect two or more EEE to each other.

Spare part means a separate part of an EEE that can replace a part of an EEE. The EEE cannot function as intended without that part of the EEE. The functionality of EEE is restored or is upgraded when the part is replaced by a spare part.

The requirements does not apply to:

(a) equipment which is necessary for the protection of the essential interests of the security of Member States, including arms, munitions and war material intended for specifically military purposes;

(b) equipment designed to be sent into space;

(c) large-scale stationary industrial tools; defined as a large-scale assembly of machines, equipment, and/or components, functioning together for a specific application, permanently installed and de-installed by professionals at a given place, and used and maintained by professionals in an industrial manufacturing facility or research and development facility

(d) large-scale fixed installations; defined as a large-scale combination of several types of apparatus and, where applicable, other devices, which are assembled and installed by professionals, intended to be used permanently in a pre-defined and dedicated location, and de-installed by professionals

(e) means of transport for persons or goods, excluding electric two-wheel vehicles which are not type-approved;

(f) non-road mobile machinery made available exclusively for professional use; defined as machinery, with an on-board power source, the operation of which requires either mobility or continuous or semi-continous movement between a succession of fixed working locations while working, and is made available exclusively for professional use

(h) photovoltaic panels intended to be used in a system that is designed, assembled and installed by professionals for permanent use at a defined location to produce energy from solar light for public, commercial, industrial and residential applications;

(i) equipment specifically designed solely for the purposes of research and development only made available on a business-to-business basis.

(j) equipment which is specifically designed, and is to be installed, as part of another type of equipment that is excluded or does not fall within the scope of this regulation, which can fulfill its function only if it is part of that equipment, and which can be replaced only by the same specifically designed equipment;

2a-2 Definitions

Electrical and electronic equipment or EEE in chapter 2a means

a) equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly

b) equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1 000 volts for alternating current and 1 500 volts for direct current

Dependent means, with regard to EEE, needing electric currents or electromagnetic fields to fulfil at least one intended function.

Manufacturer means any natural or legal person who manufactures an EEE or who has an EEE designed or manufactured and markets it under his name or trademark.

Importer means any natural or legal person established within the Union, who places an EEE from countries outside the EEA on the EEA market.

Distributor means any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes an EEE available on the EEA market.

Import means import to the EEA market.

Export means export from Norway to countries outside the EEA market.

Making available on the market means any supply of an EEE for distribution, consumption or use on the EEA market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge.

2a-3 Restricted substances in EEE

It is prohibited to produce, import, export and make available on the market EEE in which the content of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in homogeneous materials exceeds 0.1 per cent by weight or of cadmium exceeds 0.01 per cent by weight.

Homogeneous material means one material of uniform composition throughout or a material, consisting of a combination of materials, that cannot be disjointed or separated into different materials by mechanical actions such as unscrewing, cutting, crushing, grinding and abrasive processes.

For EEE in following categories the restriction of substances shall apply from:

d) EEE that have not previously been regulated and are not covered by a) to c): 22 July 2019

The restriction of substances does not apply to applications listed in Appendix 1 and 2. Exemptions for EEE in category 1-7, 10 and 11 are valid for up to five years, and category 8 and 9 up to seven years.

The restriction of substances does not apply to reused spare parts, recovered from EEE placed on the EEA market before 1 July 2006 and used in equipment placed on the EEA market before 1 July 2016, provided that reuse takes place in auditable closed-loop business-to-business return systems, and that the reuse of parts is notified to the consumer.

The importer and the distributor shall notify all previous sales personnel and the Norwegian Environment Agency if they believe or have reason to believe that an EEE does not comply with the requirement in the first paragraph.

2a-4 Production control and technical documentation

Manufacturers shall carry out the internal production control procedure and draw up the required technical documentation in line with Annex 5, and keep this documentation and the declaration of conformity for 10 years after the EEE has been placed on the market.

The manufacturers shall ensure that the necessary documentation accompany the EEE.

The importer shall ensure that the technical documentation at the request of the Norwegian Environment Agency may be made available to authorities for 10 years following the placing on the EEA market of the EEE.

The distributor shall ensure that the necessary documentation on Norwegian accompany the EEE.

It is prohibited to import EEE which is not prepared with technical documentation and not accompanied with necessary documentation.

It is prohibited to make EEE available on the market if the distributor knows or should know that it is not prepared technical documentation for these products.

With necessary documentation in this paragraph means documents that include the CE-marking, name and address, type, batch or serial number, ref. § 2a-6, § 2a-7 and § 2a-8, if it is not possible to apply this label to the product.

2a-5 Declaration of conformity

The manufacturer shall draw up a declaration of conformity. This declaration shall state that the EEE meets the requirements specified in § 2a-3, and shall be in Norwegian or English.

The declaration of conformity shall have the model structure and shall contain the elements specified in Annex 4 and shall be updated when changes in legislation or product. The manufacturer shall keep the declaration of conformity for 10 years following the placing on the EEA market of the EEE.

The importer shall keep a copy of the declaration of conformity for 10 years following the placing on the EEA market of the EEE, and make it available for the Norwegian Environment Agency upon request.

It is prohibited to make EEE available on the market if the distributor knows or should know that it is not prepared declaration of conformity for these products.

2a-6 CE marking

The manufacturer shall affix the CE marking. The CE marking shall be affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly to the finished EEE. Where that is not possible on account of the nature of the EEE, it shall be affixed to the packaging and to the accompanying documents.

It is prohibited to import or make EEE not bearing the CE marking in accordance with the first paragraph, available on the market.

2a-7 Name and address

The manufacturer and importer shall indicate their name, registered trade name or registered trade mark and the address at which they can be contacted on the EEE. Where that is not possible, this information can be affixed on its packaging or given in a document accompanying the EEE. The address must indicate a single point at which the manufacturer can be contacted.

It is prohibited to import or make EEE not bearing the manufacturers and importers name, registered trade name or registered trade mark and the address in accordance with the first paragraph, available on the market.

2a-8 Type and serial number

The manufacturer shall ensure that their EEE bears a type, batch or serial number or other element allowing its identification. Where the size or nature of the EEE does not allow it, this information can be affixed on its packaging or given in a document accompanying the EEE.

It is prohibited to import or make EEE without a type, batch or serial number or other element allowing the identification of the EEE in accordance to the first paragraph, available on the market.

EEE should be marked with a pictogram which consists of a crossed out wheeled bin, as shown here:

The line below the bin means that the EEE was placed on the market after 13 August 2005. The line can be replaced by date marking. Date marking shall be either yyyy.mm.dd or date code. Any date code must be made available for treatment facilities for WEEE.

The pictogram shall be affixed to the EEE. Exceptionally it can be affixed at the packaging, manual or warranty card due to the size or function of the product.

Before 15 August 2018 these requirements does notapply to filament bulbs or light fixtures to households.

The manufacturer shall provide information about:

a) materials and components in the EEE

b) the content of hazardous substances and mixtures and the location in the EEE

c)how to treat the EEE as waste, including how to prepare the EEE for reuse.

The information shall be provided for each individual new EEE made available for the market.

The purpose of this information is to facilitate the maintenance, upgrading and repair of EEE and environmentally sound treatment of WEEE in accordance with regulation 1 June 2004 No. 930 relating to the recycling of waste (the Waste regulations), Chapter 1 on waste electrical and electronic products.

The information shall be made available to treatment facilities within one year of the EEE made available on the market. The information shall be given in the form or manuals or electronic media (e.g. CD-ROM or online services) and shall be of the extent necessary for the environmentally responsible handling of the product when it ends as waste.

2a-10 Series production

Manufacturer shall ensure that procedures are in place for series production to remain in conformity with § 2a-3. Changes in product design or characteristics and changes in the harmonised standards or in technical specifications by reference to which conformity of EEE is declared shall be adequately taken into account.

2a-11 Register

The manufacturer and importer shall keep a register of non-conforming EEE and product recalls, and keep distributors informed thereof. The importer shall before placing an EEE on the EEA market, ensure that the manufacturer has kept such a register.

2a-12 Authorised representative

The manufacturer has the possibility to appoint an authorised representative by written mandate.

The authorised representative is responsible for the tasks specified in the mandate received from the manufacturer. The mandate shall at least include the duty of the representative to keep the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation at the disposal of the Norwegian Environment Agency for 10 years following the placing on the EEA market of the EEE.

The manufacturer's duty to ensure that EEE complies with the requirements of § 2a-3 and to prepare technical documentation cannot be delegated to the representative.

2a-13 Cases in which obligations of manufacturers apply to importers and distributors

An importer or distributor is considered a manufacturer and is subject to the obligations of the manufacturer in Chapter 2a, where he imports or places EEE on the market under his name or trademark or modifies EEE already imported or placed on the market in a manner that may affect the products' compliance with the ban in § 2a-3.

2a-14 Identification of economic operators

The manufacturer, manufacturer's representative, importer and distributor of EEE shall on request of the Norwegian Environment Agency, for 10 years following the placing on the EEA market of the EEE, identify:

(a) any economic operator who has supplied them with an EEE;

(b) any economic operator to whom they have supplied an EEE.

Economic operators means the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer and the distributor.

2a-15 Application for exemptions

The manufacturer or his authorized representative, importer or distributor may submit to the Commission an application for an exemption from the prohibition in § 2a-3. Application requirements and conditions for the exemption are provided in Appendix 3.